What can we do about the enormous cost of health care?

This is a question at the center of attention of both business and political leaders. At work, employers have for many years expected their employees to do more and more work with less and less assistance. Payroll has been cut to the bone. Productivity has risen, and health care costs have skyrocketed.

Although we consider our nation to be the most powerful in the world, there’s much evidence that we are far from the healthiest. Look at your insurance premiums and you can see why businesses, who traditionally paid all or a lion share of health insurance premiums, are scared as health care costs take up a growing piece of their revenue.

We strongly believe that the wisest thing that any organization can do to decrease their health care costs and enhance the wellness of its staff is to offer Effortless Meditation™ classes. The EM program is a win-win for any employer. Employees love the benefits of meditation. It is easy to do anywhere and the deep rest is nature’s medicine, as important to us as the air that we breathe. Employers who have introduced Effortless Meditation into the workplace find that employees are happier, more energetic and productive; this is truly a win-win situation.

If you know of any business leader, manager or business owner who would like to know about the benefits of stress reduction and wellness through Effortless Meditation™, please pass on to me the contact information. I’d enjoy discussing with them the results of numerous workplace programs that we’ve conducted along with validation for the practice that comes from 40 years of scientific research.Greg Schweitzer, MBA, D.Ay.Effortless Meditation™ instructor

It doesn’t matter what is causing our pain – Fibromyalgia, post-polio, sore muscles from gardening, playing a sport or some other physical problem, life can be a real challenge! Mine happens to be post-polio. The doctor said to me way back in 1959, “the problem with you polio patients is that you “over−do− it” and then in about 40 years you start having physical problems.” Yup, she was right, that’s what happened!

Polio patients have been labeled as Type A’s. I am a type “A” to the medical world, but in the alternative world where we have the 4 COORDINATION PATTERNS of THRUST, SHAPE, SWING, HANG, I am a THRUST.

Betsy Wetzig, a former professional dancer, discovered and researched these neuromuscular patterns which are the mind−body and/or movement−mind link. When THRUST is our dominant pattern, we push into every barrier with speed, directness and intensity.

Boy! Until Betsy told me, I never knew I could physically and mentally function as a Type A/ THRUST and do it in an easier and relaxed way.

No wonder my muscles got tight and hurt! After a spinal fusion, physical therapy got me strong and walking well, but I was in a lot of pain. I learned from Betsy that I had been doing the exercises incorrectly – tightening muscles to make them move, substituting stronger muscles for the weaker ones, and breathing incorrectly.

I finally learned how to exercise correctly. It is amazing how easy it is to move when we are aware of our body and know how to move it in an easy way.

Betsy could see where I held energy or tightened my body in order to move. She calls these over−rides! They can cause all kind of problems with the joints and muscles. Just looking at the words THRUST, SHAPE, SWING, HANG you can get the idea of how they relate to our movements, but they also determine how we think, learn, relate to others, and so much more! THEY ARE WHO WE ARE AT THE MOST BASIC LEVEL OF OUR EXISTANCE! It is all so fascinating! My daughter has two 3 year olds and working with Betsy has allowed her to understand them so that she can appreciate their differences instead of judging them and trying to change them.

With the COORDINATION PATTERN “BREAKTHRU” TRAINING, I was also able to understand the physical bad habits which were blocking my growth and the understanding of myself. Little by little my understanding of my true nature enabled me to become more in touch with who I really was and understand what my purpose in life really was – this was my mental “breakthrough.”

My purpose in working with Betsy was to eliminate pain in my body, but fortunately I got so much more. It really proves that the mind and body are one. Imagine, just doing easy, simple physical exercises with correct breathing can change your life on every level!

Twin Ponds Integrative Health Center is the result of the clarity and creativity of this “breakthru.” COORDINATION PATTERN TRAINING changed my life!

That is what I have been doing this year. When I was asked to lead a laughing yoga class, I said to myself, “How can I!” I had been a caretaker to my husband for the last couple of years. He died earlier this year. I am not happy; I am in mourning. So how do you expect me to teach a laughing yoga class?

I have been teaching yoga classes for over 30 years and the Feldenkrais Method® “Awareness Through Movement®” classes for 15 years. So I **should** be able to do it. Oh, the **Shoulds!!!**

So for my healing, I have been practicing what I teach.

I, Decided to Laugh, Smile, and Just fake it. Initially the fake laughter and fake smiling seemed awkward. With repeated practice, my fake laughter and fake smiling became real, softening and relaxing my body, opening up my thinking, making it easier to cope with life, and it gets easier to laugh with ease.

Did you know that when the sun is shining bright and you are looking in the sun’s direction, there is a smile on your face?

And yes, I still cry, am sad, and missing my partner in life. But life goes on. A smile and a laugh….

It might seem reasonable that the main role of enjoyment in success comes after you have succeeded in achieving a goal: you achieve a goal and kick back in a wave of enjoyment. There is nothing wrong with that, but I am going to offer you another point of view about enjoyment and success. Wouldn’t it be great if you could enjoy your way to success? This may seem counter-intuitive to those of us who were brought up on the value of hard work as the way to success; work first – play later. But in reality, enjoyment is a crucial factor on the way to achieving a goal. In fact, is it success if you don’t enjoy yourself on the way to achieving your goal? When you are too stressed to enjoy what you are doing, you actually get in the way of your own success. Here is an example of what I mean.

I recently completed a round of coaching with a client and asked him to share what he had gained from our work together. He said that he came into coaching wanting to figure out how to make himself take action to achieve his goals and left knowing how to let it happen. We took a look at how he was using his energy. As a result, he saw that he could enhance his use of the energies of creativity, enjoyment and relationship to accomplish his goals. He started playing toward his goals with a colleague. They partnered, with the specific intention of having fun with creative ways of interacting with potential clients. As a result, he made significant progress toward his goal; he had more clients and more income.

Enjoyment is a crucial form of energy because it is so closely related to creativity. Creativity thrives in an environment of enjoyment. Creativity can be stimulated to flow in life-threatening circumstances (think about Apollo 13, for example), for the most part, fear and anxiety do not support creativity. Also, enjoyment is also connected with the free flow of physical vitality, since enjoyment supports the free flow of energy through relaxation.

How do we put that to use? My client chose to enjoy his work. One way to see the word enjoy is not as a passive experience, but as the process of bringing joy into what you do, to en-joy your activity.

Here are some suggestions about how to en-joy your work:

Remember that you can choose to en-joy to what you do; enjoyment does not come from the outside.

It does not take extra time to en-joy your work, so don’t listen to inner conversations that say you are too busy.

Be alert and fully present to what you are doing.

Focus on the action, not the outcome. Enjoy the trip, not just anticipation of the destination.

Choose an activity that you experience as mildly unpleasant and experiment with bringing enjoyment to it. What have you got to lose?

I’m at work and sit back for a moment when WOW! Suddenly I feel the stress in my body! My mind goes to having a massage and immediately I feel my body relax a little.

Did you know that just thinking about getting a massage starts the process of relaxation?

I call for an appointment and spend the rest of the day in great anticipation knowing that the evening will be much more enjoyable after the massage and a good night’s sleep will get me back on track for my hectic day planned for tomorrow.

I’m feeling more positive already!

When I walk into massage room 2, my favorite, I feel comforted by the warmth of the room, the dim lights, and the soft music that is playing. It gives me a feeling of being safe and supported in life. Isn’t that what being cared for is all about?

As I crawl under the sheets, I feel the warmth of the heated pad under my back and relax in total comfort until the therapist comes into the room. I’m then asked a few questions so my requirements for the massage are met. Sometimes it is just the stress release I need, sometimes it is a tight neck and shoulders, and sometimes a low backache.

It is amazing what goes on during and after a massage that we aren’t even aware of. Things like better circulation, the lymphatic flow in my body is better, and even my immune system gets a boost! Can you imagine? Who would think that a massage can even keep you from getting colds and other annoying discomforts of the body! Actually massages are even beneficial for very serious conditions, but I won’t talk about that now.

My attention goes to where the therapist is working. I have been told that this intensifies the benefits of a massage 10 times and I immediately feel that area relax. I wonder as I lie there what else is happening in my body.

This is all so amazing to me! Lying on a table, feeling relaxed and knowing that there is so much more going on than I am aware of. When the massage is over and I leave room #2, I know my postural alignment is better – I feel it. I know I have more energy − relaxed but vitalized – I feel it. My body, mind, emotions, and spirit are uplifted! I know it and feel it.

I am also aware as I’m walking down to the office that I have bed head, creases on my forehead, and feeling really spacey − who cares! I feel so wonderful! I drink a glass of water to bring me back to earth and know that drinking more water than usual will help eliminate the toxins that have been loosened from my muscles. Amazing!

This is a great ending for a day. It is so evident when I walk into my home and greet my family. They are so appreciative! Me too! The newly relaxed, fully−patient me is home!